A town panchayat or panchayat town is a small town, under 20,000 or 25,000 inhabitants, which is formed under the panchayati raj administrative system.[1] In census data the abbreviation T.P. is used to indicate a "town panchayat".[2]Tamil Nadu was the first state to introduce the panchayat town as an intermediate step between rural villages and urban local bodies (ULB).[3]